MLB Baseball: Monday, April 7, 2014 at 1:05 pm (Yankee Stadium)

Ubaldo Jimenez (R) (0-1) (6.000) vs. Hiroki Kuroda (R) (0-1) (3.000)

TV: MASN, YES

The New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles face off on Monday for Opening Day in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium.

The New York Yankees are one of the few teams yet to play a home game and they arrive home at 3-3 and a half of a game behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East standings. The Yankees were winners on Sunday in Toronto and have been outscored by two runs thus far this season. Yangervis Solarte leads New York in hitting averaging .471, Ichiro Suzuki is hitting .462, Jacoby Ellsbury is hitting .333 and Derek Jeter who celebrates his final home opener is hitting .250. For game one of their series against the Orioles the Yankees start Hiroki Kuroda who took the loss in his first start of the season. In his first outing Kuroda allowed three hits and two runs while striking out five over 6.0 innings in the losing effort. The Yankees missed the post season last year and they would like nothing more than to send Jeter out a winner.

USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles have had a tough draw to start the season facing the two teams that met in the ALCS last season, the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers. The Orioles are 1.5 games back in the AL East going 102 on the road thus far but they are coming off of a win on Sunday. Matt Wieters leads Baltimore in hitting averaging .368, J.J. Hardy is averaging .333, Chris Davis is hitting .273, and Adam Jones is batting .250. For Monday’s game the Orioles start Ubaldo Jimenez who lost in his first start for the Orioles. In his first outing Jimenez allowed five hits and four runs while striking out six over 6.0 innings of work at home against the Red Sox. The Orioles have put together back-to-back winning seasons and look to make it three in a row this year.

New York is 19-7 in their last 26 games as a home favorite, 2-5 against the AL East, and 9-0 in Kuroda’s last nine starts against a team with a losing road record. Baltimore is 6-2 in their last eight road games against a team with a losing record, 3-8 in their last 11 games as an underdog, 1-7 in their last eight road games, and 1-4 I their last five games. Baltimore is 2-5 in their last seven games against the Yankees.

This one is a tough call and I don’t love the game because I see Baltimore as the better team but the Yankees having the better pitcher for this spot. I give the Yankees the mild edge here and they are the play.

New York Yankees -140

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